Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,102

Cody wanted to score him hockey tickets once in a while, who was he to complain?

“Oh!” Connor nodded and scratched his bearded chin. “That’s cool. For some reason, I thought Lydia was in summer school.”

Unlike the Strauss brothers who had grown up in the privilege of an incredibly wealthy aristocratic family of bear shifters, Eric’s mate, Lydia, came from no money at all. She had never had the chance to pursue her own desires and when she’d found happiness with Eric, he had encouraged her to go back to school just as she’d always dreamed.

Eric swallowed and said, “Yeah, she was going to but she worked so hard over the spring and they didn’t really have a chance to just kick back for a while together so she’s taking the summer off.”

“Good.” Connor nodded and scarfed down the rest of Cody’s half of a sandwich in two bites. “So what’s your problem?”

“Hmm?” Cody blinked at his older brother and racked his brain.

What had he done now? He couldn’t think of any reason Connor could be mad. Cody was, even on a good day, sometimes grumpy or abrasive. But he had been in a decent mood lately, if only because he had a new baby niece, and that was a cheerful thing.

“You look pouty,” Connor said, dusting off his hands. “And you need a haircut. Is this because of the new maid you’ve been flirting with?’

Cody glowered.

Connor was right on both counts and that was annoying.

“Her name is Jessie,” Cody said. He dropped the crust of his own sandwich half on the plate and crossed his arms. “And as the head honcho around here, I would expect you to know your employees names-”

“I do. Geez-”

“Besides, I like my hair long,” Cody grumbled.

Cody had dark brown hair that fell in soft waves and was teasingly derided as “girly” by his brothers when he let it touch his shoulders.

But just last week, Jessie had said that she thought his hair looked good. That had been just before he’d intended to have it cut for the summer.

He’d abruptly changed his mind.

It was just an extra step while he worked in the kitchen. He pulled his long hair back into a pony with not a strand out of place.

“Have you asked her out yet?” Connor said.

There was no business between the brothers or between the brothers and anyone else that Connor Strauss did not want to stick his nose into. In Cody’s opinion, that was because Connor was maybe a little lonely and wanted his own mate but didn’t want to admit. Instead, he distracted himself by sticking his big paws into everything.

“I’m feeling it out,” Cody said, frowning.

He felt like he was about thirteen-years-old again and that was very annoying.

“Feeling what out?” Connor shrugged. “You’re a Strauss! You’re rich and decent looking-”

“Oh, decent looking. Thanks, asshole,” Cody cracked.

He thought he was pretty good looking, if he did say so himself. All the Strauss brothers had a sharp jaw and the kind of big glimmering eyes that made the girls melt.

Sometimes he thought his mouth was too wide and he wished he had that nice thatch of dark chest hair like Nathan or Connor because women seemed to like that. But other than that, he thought he was doing okay. He had an aquiline nose unlike his brothers and he thought it made him stand out a little from the other Strausses, just like Nathan’s blonde hair.

“So?” Connor was giving him his sternest look as if the question of Cody asking Jessie out was life and death.

“Mind your business!” Cody barked. He hopped up from his stool and took the plate to the sink, looking around almost desperately for something to do.

Take Jessie for lunch...

Perhaps it was a dash unfair of Cody to so obviously play favorites amongst the cleaning staff and pay so much attention to Jessie except that she smiled whenever he came around. Besides that half the cleaning staff practically ran from him whenever he came near, he often asked for help outside his own staff in keeping the kitchens immaculate or complained about the state of the dining hall.

“Okay okay.” Connor raised his hands in surrender. “It just seems like we’re all finding out people, you know? First Nathan, now Eric... ”

“Not that it’s been easy,” Cody said under his breath.

“Yeah,” Connor said. He clapped his brother on the back. “On that note, if this girl Jessie turns out to be the one can you try and make sure there’s no